Digital Library Center Blog | UF

[The job posting below is from Florida International University, a public university in Miami. FIU is one of the public universities, along with UF and a number of others, in Florida. The UF Digital Library Center (which is where I am and what I write about on this blog) is part of the University of Florida Libraries in Gainesville. While FIU in Miami to UF in Gainesville are a fair distance apart, FIU and UF work closely together on a number of projects including the Digital Library of the Caribbean and the Everglades Digital Library. We work together frequently, as do all of the State University Libraries in Florida, but we have extra time with FIU for the Everglades Digital Library and the Digital Library of the Caribbean. I can't stress enough how wonderful these projects and the people involved are. This is an excellent position that's also excellently positioned.]

Job Posting: Florida International University, University Libraries, Associate Director for Technical and Digital Library Services

This position leads, shapes, and oversees the work of 35 staff on two campuses engaged in acquiring and making accessible the resources in all formats of the FIU Libraries.  The Associate Director is a member of the Libraries’ management team, with leadership and management responsibilities for all technical services and systems operations.  The Associate Director is also responsible for leading the Libraries’ digital services program, coordinating projects and planning across library departments (Digital Collections Center, Sound & Image, GIS/MIUS, Special Collections, and Reference).

Responsibilities:

1. Provide administrative oversight of cataloging, serials, acquisitions, systems, and digital library functions across University Park and Biscayne Bay Campus libraries.
2. Hold line authority for faculty and staff in four departments:  Acquisitions and Serials, Cataloging, Digital Collections Center, and Systems.
3. Participate with the Dean and other Associate and Assistant Directors in the leadership and management of the University Libraries.
4. Lead the reorganization of technical services operations and functions.
5. Lead the reorganization of digital library services.
6. Cooperate with FIU Law and Medical Library technical and digital library staff on planning and library operations.
7. Collaborate with other state university libraries and the Florida Center for Library Automation (FCLA) on implementation of new library catalog architecture.
8. Collaborate with other state university libraries and FCLA on digital library services (including FDA, PALMM, and other projects).

About the University: Florida International University is an urban multi-campus comprehensive university with a student enrollment of over 38,000 students from all states and 120 countries.  It is one of the 25 largest universities in the nation, based on enrollment.  FIU is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and sponsored research funding (grants and contracts) from external sources for the year2006-2007 totaled approximately $108 million.  FIU prides itself on the cultural and ethnic diversity of its student and faculty.  More information is available at: www.fiu.edu

About the Libraries: The Libraries accommodate state-of-the-art information technology, including a Geographic Information Systems Center and a Digital Collections Center.  Total library collections comprise more than 2 million volumes, subscription to more than 39,000 journals and access to over 525 databases and services.  The FIU Libraries are in a statewide university consortium and employ the Ex Libris ALEPH library management system.

Required Qualifications:

1. Master’s degree in library science from an ALA accredited institution, or its equivalent
2. Professional experience in acquisitions, cataloging, digital initiatives, e-resource management, serials, or systems with a record of increasing responsibility
3. Excellent oral and written communication skills
4. Excellent interpersonal skills

Preferred Qualifications: Record of professional service at the local, regional, or national level. Evidence of potential for scholarly or research contributions.

Salary/Benefits: Salary commensurate with experience and background.  Excellent State of Florida benefits.
Application Procedure: For complete position descriptions and application procedures, go to https://www.fiujobs.org.
Florida International University is an equal opportunity, equal access, affirmative action employer.

America’s Swamp: the Historic Everglades, a new collection within the University of Florida Digital Collections should be up this week. In the meantime, we’ve already started loading some of the photos to Flickr. If the photos on Flickr aren’t enough, the Everglades Digital Library from FIU’s Digital Collections Center is already a massive digital collection of amazing material, and it’s always growing.

The National Archives have announced the most recent National Historical Publications and Records Commission’s grants, and the University of Florida Libraries is one of the award winners for a project to digitize historical Everglades records. The project, entitled “America’s Swamp: The Historical Everglades” will digitize material from six collections relating to the exploration, development and conservation of the Everglades from 1878-1929. “America’s Swamp” will feed into the Everglades Digital Library (EDL), from the Florida International University Libraries and many other partners.

We’ll keep you posted as the collection starts to go online, and there will be a great deal to share since this project will digitize approximately 99,690 pages in six archival collections. The collections selected for this project document early plans for draining the Everglades in the 1880s and 1890s, the dredging of canals and subsequent development of the destroyed wetlands at the start of the 20th century, as well as early attempts by conservationists to preserve the natural resources of the Everglades.  The six collections featured in this project are part of the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History and the Archives & Manuscripts Unit of the Department of Special & Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida Libraries.  The collections to be digitized date from 1854 to 1963, but the bulk of the materials included in this project will date from 1877 to 1929. The year 1929 was selected as an end date because it marks the end of the South Florida land boom and the onset of the Great Depression.  Of the 99,690 pages, approximately 9,040 pages are letterbook pages and 250 are photographic prints.